The Vinyl Word

By Marcus Aurelius / Contributing reporter

Fri, Nov 02, 2012 - Page 11

The Vinyl Word begins this week with a beef: When the two separate Gay Pride Parade routes converged behind Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to make their triumphant way to the final destination at the stage in front of the Presidential Office Building last Saturday, the sounds of Gangnam Style blared out from one of the floats. Instead of seeing throngs of men in thongs riding invisible horses down the road, most people around the truck were covering their ears because of the deafening volume the song was being played at. All of the floats with music had this exact same problem. Note to the organizers: Congratulations on the amazing turnout, but get some speakers for music instead of renting archaic trucks mostly used for political rallies.

Okay, down to business: After the high of Halloween, most clubs, pubs, and promoters take a little break for a few weeks then turn their focus to New Year’s Eve. Not Liquid Lifestyle, though, as they promote a party headlined by the Bassjackers at Spark tonight.

The Bassjackers (real names Marlon Flohr and Ralph van Hilst) began in 2007 when Flohr, a DJ, ran into van Hilst, a producer, and decided that by collaborating, they could bring some magic to dance floors. “We started out to do what we love most — making music and entertaining people,” Flohr said in an email interview with the Taipei Times. “And that’s still the goal, so there’s no change there.”

Their first big break came when their first song, Beat Cut, got into the hands of house music legend, Fedde la Grand. “Times were different back then because there weren’t as many producers and one could still reach the big DJs by a simple email,” Flohr said. “That’s what happened with us and Fedde. We sent him our track and he liked it so much that he put it in his top 10. After he charted it, labels stood in line to release it. It was a dream debut actually and got our career off to a flying start.”

The next big boost came when they put out Mush, Mush in 2011 and Tiesto released it on his label, Musical Freedom. This co-sign from one of the biggest DJs in the world helped spread the Bassjackers sound and soon top-tier DJs like Swedish House Mafia, Afrojack, and David Guetta were playing their tunes in live shows to tens of thousands of people every night.

Now, the Bassjackers are touring the globe, averaging 250 shows per year. On their Taipei stop tonight, Flohr said “Expect a lot of new exclusive tunes, a lot of energy and even more bass!”

Liquid Lifestyle presents the Bassjackers tonight from 10:30pm to 4am at Spark, B1, 45 Shifu Rd, Taipei City (台北市市府路45號B1). Admission: NT$800 for women and NT$1,000 for men. Both prices includes two drinks.